Dan Muller talks about recruiting

[tornado]

nothing really new but a couple interesting things in what he says, plus one very familiar line...
"..I think we .. will compete for championships very consistently if we continue to do our jobs"

http://www.wjbc.com/common/page.php?pt=Lefty%27s+Corner%3A+Muller+wants+size%2C+balance+in+spring+recruiting&id=128033&is_corp=0

of course they need size, and he really doesn't go into reasons their multiple players left - and have to be replaced, but he does talk about players transferring as if it's a totally new things that's never happened before.

This is puzzling since we've talked about all the many D-I transfers for years - this is nothing new at all.
But of all the players who are D-I transfers - very few are really "recruitable" targets for someone like Muller.
-first the vast majority are no better than who is leaving ISU so why would he want to take a step backwards?
-then many are leaving because they want to jump to a BCS-type (like Jon Ekey) so they're not interested in an MVC school
-then many are troubled kids and kids that won't fit, some being booted & some with arrests & off-the-court problems, and I kinda suspect Muller doesn't need more of that
-lots will have to sit out and maybe you need help now
-and many are not targets for other reasons - like already have their position filled, aren't good enough, don't want to look at schools in midwest, etc..

so in the end just maybe there are NOT that many legit targets among the transfers...
I think Geno even agrees with that, as he appears to NOT to be targeting ANY D-I transfers....unless there's someone I do not know about...

[mvcfan]

Your theories are interesting sometimes. He is basically saying kids leave everywhere all the time anymore. The Jon Ekey situation is no different then Zeisloft and many other kids who take the opportunity to begin the grad school process. This gives them another free year of college. Most kids who realize they will not be playing basketball for money after college would be ignorant to not take that opportunity. I have never been a big fan of bringing in transfers every year. The right kid and the right fit why not. If you can get a kid to transfer in with 3yrs of eligibility why not? Also ISU brings a good core back with a couple kids that have been on campus that did not play last year. They have scholarship's so why not bring in a transfer to help balance the classes. Is Bradley taking a step back by bringing in Shaw?

[tornado]

....the grad school process. This gives them another free year of college. .....

but obviously they can stay where they are - and we all know that 90% of the time the "grad school" line is used - it's really phony - because the real reason the kid is leaving is basketball & playing somewhere else and the grad school line is simply a convenient and allowable excuse....

Back in grade school kids claimed "I hafta go to the bathroom" so they could head down the hall - but we all knew it was just a convenient and allowable excuse to go talk to your buds...

..... Is Bradley taking a step back by bringing in Shaw?

what?? No, because he's not some low level or unranked D-I recruit - he's a pretty solid prospect - the kind BU would rarely ever get, so it's kinda worth taking a little chance on him...
...but you can see where letting Abell go and running out Donivine Stewart then bringing in a replacement PG in Fields - has simply not paid off and has been a big step backwards.
Replacing Shayok with Blake was a big step backwards ..and if we get a low level transfer to replace Swopshire it'll be a step backwards.

[Nacho]

Would a guy like Graham Woodward (just left PSU- played HS with Reggie Lynch) be a step backwards? He was a fairly highly ranked prospect (3* on Rivals and ESPN)- he would replace Keane, and would be an upgrade, IMO

[mvcfan]

The grad school reasoning is used as a reason to transfer I get that and that is why there are even more transfers then there use to be. Probably what Muller is eluding to when he made the comment that you have to recruit your own players this time of year.

[tornado]

I hear ya - but if you "have to recruit your own players" means you have a roster full of guys looking to head somewhere else unless you work a little at stroking them &/or promising them playing time..
then I would conclude that you have already screwed up and recruited the wrong guys...you recruited guys who still aren't happy after being there a year or more...
If the guys you have (and practically every one Muller has just arrived in the past year) are mulling over the thought of leaving after being there just one year - then you got the wrong guys - fickle, not fully committed, not wanting to fully buy in, always counting only their OWN minutes played or shots taken and looking at the grass on the other side of the fence.....
If you lust for their talent so much you are willing to compromise and take kids that aren't fuly committed to the program, then you deserve what you have.
Instead, you need to get guys who are happy to be there and who want to stay and play four years or 'til they're seniors like Walt, Tyshon, Carmichael, DSE, WE, Andrew Warren, Jake, etc...

Count me as spoiled by a couple decades of never more than one or two players leaving - one to head to the NBA but generally those who didn't cause much stir by doing so - players who maybe we were better off without (TCS, Jermaine Brown, Ben Coupet) or whose own choices mandated their leaving (Eddren, Ray Brown, Mike Suggs) - but everyone else stayed and were good teammates even if they didn't play much (Milos, Sam Singh, Anthony Thompson).


Say what you want but the big player turnover & restocking is NOT good for us or anyone and it cannot be used as some crown jewel of our recent rebuilding effort - but is instead just more fallout and evidence our moves have shot ourselves in the foot.